Witch of the Week
Witch of the Week was a term used by Russell Blackford on the In Living Color blog to refer to the latest victim of the "ongoing witch hunt" conducted by members of the baboon boards. This page adopts the term, and attempts to chronicle the timeline of witches persecuted by the baboons. Week ending August 19, 2012 Justin Vacula - A.K.A 'Entity,' 'Justin Fucking Vacula.' Author of Justin Vacula's Blog and host of the NEPA Freethought Society Podcast. ' Objected to 'Surly Amy' rebuking Sharon Hill on Twitter for following @AngrySkepchick, objected to 'Surly Amy' saying conferences should ban 'fake jewelry,' and refused to be bullied by a DMCA claim . 1. via 'Lousy Canuck ' (Vacula's response ) 2. via Stephanie Zvan Valuing critical thought, doubt, hesitation, humility, and honesty, and questioning his perceptions and biases. 3. via. 'Natalie Reed ' 'Week ending July 15, 2012 Harriet Hall - Writer for 'Skeptic' and 'Skeptical Enquirer'. Wore a T-shirt at TAM 2012 which read, on the front, I feel safe and welcome at TAM, and on the back, I'm a skeptic Not a "skepchick" Not a "woman skeptic" Just a skeptic. Srsly. Totes! # via Ophelia ---- Week ending July 1, 2012 Thunderf00t - YouTube atheist. Darling of FtB when he joined on June 21. Obtained resident evil status on June 25 with a post criticising various aspects of gnu femtheism. Followed up the next few days with scathing attacks on P.Z. Myers! Arguably the biggest fuck-you to the baboon bullies to date. It was too unbearable that on July 1, Ed Brayton kicked Thunderf00t out of FfTB. # MISOGYNIST! - The post which got this week's ball rolling. # FFS PZ Myers, enough with the strawmen! (actual title!) # FFS PZ MYERS, PLEASE – LEARN – TO – READ # Is it ‘Freethoughtblogs’ or ‘Group-think-blogs’? # SkepchickCON and the Harassment LOL-icy # Major Changes at Freethought Blogs - Ed Brayton on the removal of Thunderf00t # Thunderf00t's youtube resposne - PZ Myers and the Art of Shameless Dishonesty # Thunderf00t's youtube repsonse - FreeThoughtBlogs and PZ Myers PZ Myers was getting a lot of questions to his Twitter account as to the reasons for Thunderf00t's "demise". He however suffered a bout of selective memory when answering one person, so he was reminded of his own words - including a link to where he had said them: Coffee Loving Skeptic - Blogger who had been critical of Rebecca Watson during the ElevatorGate controversy. Falsely accused by Watson on Twitter of calling her the "C" word, and when he attempted to defend himself by blogging about the exchange, was publicly attacked by both Watson and PZ Myers, whose followers bullied and harassed him. # Rebecca Watson (The Skepchick): a liar? Paula Kirby - For using the terms "Feminazi" and "Femistasi" to describe the totalitarian thought and lack of tolerance for dissent at FTB, during a Twitter conversation. # http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/06/thats-not-a-godwin-thats-a-wollstonecraft/ # http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2012/06/30/our-terrible-secret-exposed/ # http://skepchick.org/2012/07/hot-gossip-were-all-burqa-wearing-nazis/ # SisterhoodOfTheOppressed.pdf ---- Week ending June 24, 2012 Russell Blackford (witch with bar) and Jeremy Stangroom - Called out the FtB bullying on twitter. Sent Ophelia into hysterics. #Ophelia's response Ophelia Benson and Jeremy Stangroom co-authored the book "Does God Hate Women?" ---- Week ending June 17, 2012 Stephen Packard - AKA Dr. Buzzo, DRBUZZ0. Became a side-show distraction from the ongoing Grothe-hunt when it emerged he had been in posession of an 'x-shot' camera boom at TAM 9. Some concerned women assumed he was using the device to take "up-skirt" photos, rather than it's intended commerical purpose of taking self-portraits. Despite no evidence or witness accounts of Dr. Buzzo using the device in a suspicious manner, he was declared guilty on account of him being "creepy" - whatever that means. #Overview on Skeptical Abyss #Rebecca Watson on facebook: Eww! But he's creepy! ---- Week ending June 10, 2012 Justin Vacula - Called out Jason Thibeault for making a homophobic comment during the D.J. Grothe trials. This earned him the title of "vacuous shitbag troll" and, of course, a banning from Jason's blog. #Jason's homophobic comment and Justin's original comment #Jason's vacuous shitbag post #Justin's response ---- Week ending June 3, 2012 D.J. Grothe (witch with bar) - Takes the mantle of the first person to be witch hunted twice. Suggested that a drop in female attendance at TAM may be due to scaremongering regarding sexual harassment by Watson et. al. This sparked an avalanche of faeces-throwing never before seen. The story did have a happy ending, however: Neither Rebecca Watson or PZ Myers will be attending TAM in 2012. A short sampling of the FtB pile-on follows: #Grothe's comment which sparked the witch hunt #Stephanie Zvan smells blood #Rebecca Watson stomps her feet and goes home #PZ Myers apes Rebecca #Chris Hallquist supports D.J. Grothe #Jason Thibeault makes a homophobic comment about D.J. Grothe #Jason not-pologises for his comment, and insults D.J. again for good measure #Ophelia Benson compares Rebecca's "plight" to the plight of Jews in Nazi Germany #Ophelia: I didn't compare TAM to Nazi Germany! #Ophelia: I was comparing D.J. Grothe to Hitler! #[http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/06/bad-analogies-are-bad/ Ophelia: OK, So I did compare TAM to Nazi Germany] #'Greg Laden' probably said something too. Who cares. ---- Week ending February 11, 2012 Terroja Kincaid - AKA TJ and The Amazing Atheist. Provided enough rope to hang himself several times over and have enough change to rig a Man-O-War when he had a brain meltdown, rhetorically threatened a rape survivor with rape, and taunted her about her exprerience. This, not surprisingly, sparked a baboon feeding frenzy. Wins the award for being the first person on this list to have actually crossed the line. #AXP - Horrible people don’t realize they’re horrible #Pharyngula - The not-so-Amazing Atheist self-immolates #Blag Hag - Scratch the Amazing Atheist off your list toohttp://freethoughtblogs.com/almostdiamonds/2012/02/09/rape-trauma-and-triggers/ #Cammels with Hammers - The Amazing Rape-Celebrating Atheist #Crommunist - Hey look over here! #Lousy Canuck - The man who could not see his own reflection, but thinks he looks Amazing nonetheless #Natalie Reed - MRA Gets Around #Greg Laden - Time to shut down the Amazing Atheist #Almost Diamonds - Rape Trauma and Triggers #That Fat Atheist - Kincaid apologises, and a reponse to PZ Myers Penn Jillette and Emily Simon - Penn posted a comment to Emily's wall on facebook, calling fellow comedian Lindy West a cunt after reading an article she had authored which he considered to be less than amusing. Emily was then harrassed on twitter by the Jen McReich and company - a situation which eventually morphed into an all-out melee when it became clear Emily would not submit to their bullying. To Emily's credit, she maintained a very calm compsure. #Penn Jillette Thinks Lindy West is a Cunty Cunt! #Women who don't amuse Penn Jillette are cunts on Blag Hag. ---- Week ending January 28, 2012 Steve Cuno -http://twitter.com/#!/rebeccawatson/status/159692953089097728 Blog contributor at randi.org. Ruffled baboon hair by vaguely criticising them in an article on randi.org. #"How to Sabotage Skepticism from the Inside" by Steve Cuno #Rebecca Watson plays the innocent bystander. #"The Brine Shimp Gambit" - PZ's response. #"Someone Is Vague on the Internet" - Almost Diamonds #"From the 'You'd Think I'd Know Better' Department" - Steve Cuno ---- Week ending January 7, 2012 D.J. Grothe - President of James Randi Educational Foundation. Accused Greta Christina and Stephanie Zvan of bullying and blogging for attention. See Attacks on D.J. Grothe. Benjamin Radford '''- Deputy editor of Skeptical Enquirer. Pissed off Queen Bee, claiming that girls toys that are pink in color are not neccessarily sexist. #Radford's initial comments. #Queen Bee gets pissed and snarky (ie: business as usual). #PZ Myers smells blood. #Radford has a WTF? moment. ---- Week ending January 1, 2012 '''Staks Rosch - Atheism Examiner on examiner.com. Held an "atheist of the year" competition with no women in the top 5 shortlist. Defended decision saying he didn't want to include "token women". #"Tokens or No Tokens" by Staks Rosch. #Ophelia finds something to be angry about. #Matt Dillahunty declines the award because of the controversy. #Jen McCreight hosts a competition for the Most Influential Female Atheist of 2011. None of the baboons complained, yet Staks inability to find a suitable woman candidate caused an uproar. ---- Week ending December 3, 2011 Ryan Grant Long - Disagreed with Greta Christina on facebook. See Attacks on D.J. Grothe. ---- Week ending November 26, 2011 P.Z. Myers - Naked Emperor. Bit the hand that feeds him when he posted a cartoon featuring an atheistic boy bunny and a theistic girl bunny. #Fatal mistake #1: The bunny post. #Fatal mistake #2: Defending the bunny post. ---- Week ending November 19, 2011 Keenan Crow - who dared to criticize Rebecca Watson's tactics for dealing with trolls. ---- Week ending October 8, 2011 James Onen - courtesy of Ophelia Benson. ---- Week ending October 1, 2011 Adrienne Meyers - Noted, on twitter, that Rebecca Watson had left a "giant vagina-shaped void" in the Boston skeptical community. After much brow beating from Rebecca and PZ, Adrienne offered an apology to Rebecca. She has since flounced. #The vagina tweet. #Rebecca's "poor me" post on Skepchick. #Adrienne responds. #Adrienne apologises. ---- Week ending July 16, 2011 Russell Blackford '''- Philosopher and author. Failed to adequately toe the line on Elevatorgate. ---- Week ending July 9, 2011 '''Richard Dawkins - Criticised Queen Bee of over-reacting to the "Elevatorgate" drama. #Dawkins' original comment on Pharyngula. #The "Dear Dick" letter on Almost Diamonds. #Rebecca Watson instigates the boycott-that-isn't-a-boycott on Skepchick. #Angry letters to Dawkins on Skepchick. #Jen McCreight complains of Dawkins' privilege on Blag Hag. #Phil Plait and potential rape situations on Bad Astronomy. #Greg Laden milking the situation for blog hits. ---- Week ending April 16, 2011 Brian Dunning - "The Skeptoid". Skepchick Amy Roth did not like the album art of his single, "Energy". ---- Week ending February 12, 2011 Sean Faircloth - Referred to women as "females" at an American Atheists conference. #"When Gender Goes Pear-Shaped" on Blag Hag. #"When posts about gender go pear-shaped" on Blag Hag.